When the internet was first invented in 1991, the notion it would have the most influence on teenager’s behaviors was not thought through. I wish it was. Since the existence of human kind, there has been nothing that has possessed as much influence on people and their attitude like the internet. Claims that the internet has little effect on the way the mind works are superficial. In fact, it is the greatest force shaping the way teenagers react to situations nowadays.
Social media offers us a fantasy that we would never have to be alone. This fantasy has made us believe that we need not be alone when we can connect to people around the world and interact with new people every day. According to Sherry Turkle, “[…] the moment that people are alone, even for a few seconds, they become anxious, they fidget, they reach for a device.” Turkle emphasizes that upon the advent of social media, people now fidget when they realize they are alone and immediately reach for their mobile devices. This feeling of anxiety and the spontaneous response to it are not limited to when people realize they are alone but also when people find themselves in awkward or challenging situations. The standard way of avoiding crucial conversations and conflicts by teenagers nowadays is to withdraw to social media and ignore the existing issues they might be facing. Even though challenging situations are crucial to developing our emotional intelligence and fostering our ability to respond to unwanted situations, people continually avoid them by using social media and internet to escape from their realities. A good example of such is Vishal who was quoted in Matt Richtel’s Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction saying on YouTube, “you can get a whole story in six minutes, […] A book takes so long.” I prefer the immediate gratification” (1). Here, Vishal explains he prefers to listen to his summer reading on YouTube instead of actually reading the book because it makes it easier for him and a lot quicker to finish. Ideologies like this, commonly propagated amongst avid users of the internet, reduce their chances of being able to engage with arduous tasks that require them to be alone for a significant amount of time. This fear of being alone and the continuous search for immediate gratification can be traced to the fantasy created by the internet for its users.
Social media tools are different from the former places where teenagers used to gather. Claims that social media is similar to previous socialization stemmed from its nature of being used predominantly by teenagers and being the place where teenagers spend most of their time. In Danah Boyd’s view, “The social media tools that teens use are direct descendants of the hangouts and other public place in which teens have been congregating for decades” (4). In making this comment, Boyd argues that social media is an exact replacement of the bars, parking lots and drive-ins which have become old-fashioned to current teenagers. However, those familiar with this school of thought should be interested in knowing that social media is entirely different from the bars and parking lots people used to hangout previously. Solitude was attainable in bars and malls but can never be attained on social media. Besides, most bars and malls were never accessible 24/7 unlike social media that can be accessed any time of the day. The previous places where teenagers’ rendezvous tended to occur made it possible for them to get some alone time when they wanted it. At a bar or a mall, there is always a place for people to go when they want to be alone and ponder about their actions or decisions.
However, on social media there is no place to find solitude at all. Social media works in such a way that there is no going back once you are in. Since its inherent purpose is to make you continually connected with people, it is impossible for you to find a place where you can be alone. Research done by Common Sense Media states, “On any given day, teens in the United States spend about nine hours using media for their enjoyment” (1). Recent studies like this shed new light on the amount of time teenagers spend on the internet and allow us analyze the effect it has on teenagers. This continual use of the internet and social media amongst teenagers has made it curate some of their habits. The habit of despising being alone is one of them. Teenagers like Vishal therefore hate tasks like summer readings which require lone time because they do not offer them what the internet offers: an opportunity to avoid being alone. Consequently, this attitude ruins the approach teenagers have towards mentally draining activities. Their ability to contemplate difficult tasks as dwindled since they are not able to sit alone and concentrate on them.
People, especially teenagers find it difficult to pay attention to minute details during their experiences because they look forward to sharing their experiences on social media. This anxiety to put their encounters on the internet has ruined their ability to enjoy their experiences. According to Michael Harris, “We have this devotion to the life-logging process. Who hasn’t seen that thing where there’s a crowd of people in front of the Mona Lisa and they’re all looking at it through their phones, as though they can’t see digital pictures of it whenever they want. They have this one opportunity to look at the actual painting, and they’re squandering it” (2). Experiences such as the one Harris narrates are common among teenagers who frequent the internet a lot. Whether it is a spectacular tourist attraction such as Mona Lisa in Harris’s example or a rare occasion such as an individual meeting their celebrity role model, people ignore the gratification the event offers them and instead anticipate the gratification posting on social media offers. The issue with this type of thinking is teenagers do not find a way to create their own gratification from experiences and care little about it. Instead, they look forward to the approval peers and friends on the internet give to them. Although this may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over the lack of ambition existing amidst teenagers. According to a research conducted by Professor Jean Twenge and Professor Tim Kasser of San Diego State University and Knox College respectively, “62 percent of students surveyed in 2005-07 think it’s important to have a lot of money, while just 48 percent had the same belief in 1976-78.” Furthermore, “As for work ethic, 39 percent of students surveyed in 2005-07 admitted they didn’t want to work hard, compared to only 25 percent in 1976-78” (2). This survey was conducted between 355,000 teenagers in U.S high schools from 1976 to 2007. The researchers also observed that adolescents’ materialism was highest when advertising spending made up a greater percentage of the U.S. economy. If the conducted research is authentic, then social media is playing a great role in shaping the minds of teenagers. Currently, the internet and social media contribute a whopping 164.2 billion dollars— about 25% of the total spending on advertisement— to the global spending on advertisement. It follows, then that the lifestyle social media is propagating might just continue to increase the number of teenagers who are looking for the easy way out in life.
Of course, many would probably disagree with this assertion that the internet is enacting significant changes to the way teenagers actually think. The standard way of thinking about the effect of the internet on teenagers’ behavioral patterns has always been that they are at the age they can think for themselves. However, it should be remembered that the internet is used by children nowadays at a very early age. According to report from Sesame Foundation and Joan Canz Cooney center, “about 80% of children between the ages of 0 and 5 use the Internet on at least a weekly basis in the United States” (2). This proves that almost all kids in the United States have access to the internet and are exposed to it at tender ages. Besides, a recent search conducted by Brown University claims that habits are formed and take firm root in children by the age of 9 (Pressman et. al 2). This shows that the internet— used by kids as early as age five— plays a massive role in forming the habits that a lot of kids would hold unto. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the future of kids whose lifestyles might end up being influenced by the internet like the current generation of teenagers.
There has been a lot of speculation on the effect on the Internet on teenagers and people who frequently access it. However, very little has been done in identifying the role it plays in teenagers’ identity formation. Assertions which support the notion that the internet faintly affects the way the mind works are ostensible. Actually, it provides substantial contributions to shaping the way teenagers react to situations nowadays. The internet has prompted and continues to generate a generation of teenagers who dread being alone, cannot sit through mentally draining task and seek immediate gratification from other people. My discussion of the role the internet plays in the lives of teenagers is in fact addressing the larger matter of the influence the internet has on the way teenagers are trying to live. If this negative influences of the internet on teenagers are not curbed, we might be heading for a disastrous society with attention seeking, lazy and docile individuals.